MONTEBELLO >> Voters on Nov. 7 will decide on whether they’re willing to pay one penny more in sales tax for each dollar spent.

The City Council voted unanimously — including Councilman Bill Molinari, previously the lone hold out — following a raucous debate that included verbal blows between Mayor Vivian Romero and Councilman Art Barajas over whether to put the sales tax increase on the ballot this November.

Molinari’s vote was the final hurdle for allowing the sales tax decision to go before voters — state law mandates cities declare fiscal emergencies in order to ask for sales tax increases in years that don’t include general elections, and those decisions must be unanimous.

Molinari explains vote

“This has been a difficult one for me,” Molinari said. “I still have some serious concerns and issues I’m troubled by. (But) I can not find any justification for one person being able to prevent the community from having a vote in this matter.”

In persuading Molinari to vote for the tax, the council agreed to a plan that imposed a hiring freeze on city departments except fire and police, required any contracts above $20,000 to be approved by the council, reduced the council travel budget from $29,000 to $18,000, cancelled meals at council meetings and established a citizens budget oversight committee.

Montebello’s budget problems

Even if the tax is passed, Molinari said the city’s immediate problems will not be solved because that revenue won’t start to flow until a year from now.

“While addressing this issue, we can’t ignore the budget,” he said.

City Manager Francesca Tucker-Schuyler’s $58 million budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year has a $5.6 million deficit.

“We need … to find ways to reduce that deficit so we can show the community we are fiscally responsible,” he Molinari said.

Opposition to tax

The tax will face opposition. Former Councilman Ed Pizzorno and Ray Broguiere, owner of Montebello Dairy, have resurrected a 2004 political action committee that opposed and helped defeat a 6.5 percent utility users tax in 2004.

Pizzorno said that last week he sent to each council member and Tucker-Schuyler a paper, saying, “No new taxes” and their committee’s identification number.

New taxes aren’t necessary, in part because the city just needs to stop having to make so many legal settlements, pointing to the recent one with Garfield Financial Corp, he said. The council agreed to pay $250,000 in cash, provide $700,000 in future credits for development fees and forgiving any payments owed to the city as a result of housing development agreement.

Others chime in on tax

But council members said they needed to increase the sales tax because the city has been forced to make cuts in all areas, especially fire and public safety, in the last few years.

“For me this is the last resort,” said Barajas. “We’ve been putting on a Band-Aid but the bleeding continues.

In the last two years, the council has relied on one-time of infusion of funds, such as sales of cell tower sites and other properties to balance the budget.

“I constantly get complaints on why our parks don’t look like the ones in Pico Rivera, “Barajas said. “No one denies it. But their 1 percent sales tax has been helping them.”

Barajas vs. Romero

Before the vote, Barajas and Romero got into a verbal fisticuffs over who was responsible for the city’s situation.

The tumult started when Romero said she was saddled with this financial situation created by two members of the council who since 2010 did nothing to prevent the fiscal crisis. Only Barajas and Molinari have been on the council since that year.

Barajas took offense at the comment.

“We’ve been working and trying not to cut too much and see if things get better,” he said. “Why didn’t you vote on it last June when Councilwoman (Vanessa) Delgado brought it up?”

He was referring to a year ago when Delgado proposed putting the same tax on the November 2016 ballot but Romero and Molinari refused to vote for it.

Romero responded, “What have you done Mr. Barajas,” and then he said, “Learn your history before you say anything.”

The tit for tat response ended when Molinari asked both to stop, calling it unprofessional.

Barajas later apologized, saying in his eight years in office he has never done anything like that.

Mike Sprague started at the Whittier Daily News in April 1984. Since then, Sprague has covered every city in the Whittier Daily News circulation area, as well as political and water issues. Sprague received a bachelor's degree in communications and a master's degree in political science, both from Cal State Fullerton.